1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dietary devices and methods, and particularly to a food calorie counting system that provides an estimate of the calories in food servings based upon the measured weight of the food and the food type.
2. Description of the Related Art
Our bodies need energy to perform. This energy is acquired. by eating different kinds of food. The food is digested and converted into energy that is burned to perform the basic bodily operations, or during physical exercise. If one takes in more energy than is needed for the daily basic operations and exercise, the extra energy will be converted into fat that is stored in the body. Thus, it is extremely important to control the amount of calories consumed in order to stay healthy. Two widely used energy measurement units are joules and calories. One kilojoule is equivalent to 0.239 calories.
To calculate the amount of energy that can be acquired from eating a certain type of food, the Atwater conversion factors are used. They are approved by the international Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC) and the USA Department of Agriculture (USDA). This method provides a crude calorie count per gram of a list of numerous food types. It also takes into account the way the food is prepared (fried, baked, etc.). It provides the amount of protein calories, carbohydrate calories, and fat calories per gram of a particular food using a particular method of preparation.
Diet watching plans and programs are gaining popularity among all categories of people. A person (male or female) in the age range of 20-40 years old is recommended to have a daily calorie intake of about 1800-2300 calories. This number can be easily exceeded if a person relies mostly on fast food or non-home cooked meals. Many of these diet-watching programs rely on the Atwater conversion factors to calculate the amount of calories per meal, and can provide persons with the actual amount of calories ingested, thereby aiding in not exceeding limits, and thus avoiding weight gain.
The daily amount of calories needed depends on several factors, such as the age, gender, height and the weight of the person. A widely used formula for calculating the daily calories requirement for males and females is the Harris-Benedict equation that relates daily calorie requirements to the weight, height and age of the person. The daily calorie count is also denoted as Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Equations 1 and 2 show these equations for males and females.BMRmen=66+(13.7×W)+(5×H)−(6.76A)  (1)BMRwomen=655+(9.6×W)+(1.8×H)−(4.7×A)  (2)
In the equations, W is weight in kilograms, H is height in centimeters and A is age in years. For a person with little or no daily exercise, the daily calories needed are given by BMR×1.2. It is worth noting that these equations do not take into account excess calories from body fat or muscle mass. There are other factors that are used to account for these situations based on the amount of exercise per week.
Thus, a food calorie counting system solving the aforementioned problems is desired.